Devil May Cry 5: Before the Nightmare

Unreleased Devil May Cry 5 -Before the Nightmare- is a prequel novel set before the events of Devil May Cry 5 written by Bingo Morihashi and illustrated by Tsuyomaru. It was released on March 1st, 2019.

The novel is told from multiple characters' perspective: Dante, Nero, Nico, V, Lady, Trish, Lucia and Morrison.

Summary
Several years after the Order of the Sword incident, Kyrie and Nero (who are living together) are approached by the weapon artist Nico. While initially wary of her rude demeanour, Nero gradually warms to her. However, a certain demon attacks Nero.

At the same time, Dante's informant Morrison introduces him to the mysterious V who has a request for him. V tells Dante that suppressing this demon is Dante's reason for fighting.

Nico Meeting Nero
In a bar, Nico meets with "Occult Times" magazine jouralist Jeffrey Turner, who wrote an article on Fortuna's destruction five years ago, to discuss the event. While the article may have exaggerate the truth and has some falsehoods, she gathered that most of what was written was true. Jeffery explained that he tried investigating the Order of the Sword, but locals are wary of outsiders and only knows low-ranking members (who are now skeptical of the Order's creed). Nico states that she also looked into Fortuna's incident and got the same reception for being an outsider and was unable to investigate places due to many of them being off-limits. Nico questions him about a man in one of the pictures and Jefferey informs her that "N" was a former Order member and his contact. Nico asks for his name because she wants to meet "N". While initially apprehensive, Jefferey relents since his career is dwindling and tells her that his name was Nero. As Nico leaves, she lets Jeffery keep her article copy as a memento since it was first one he wrote, leaving him to wonder where he heard the name "Goldstein" before.

In Fortuna, Nero is trying to fix Red Queen in the garage when Julio, one of the orphans he and Kyrie are caring for, tells him that Nico wants to speak with him. Although wary of Nico, Nero's Devil Bringer arm could tell she's a human or a weak demon. However, Nero finds Nico unpleasant due her rudeness and her smoking. Nico ask if Nero can help her find the Order's missing demonic research documents, showing Nero that she knows the truth about demons instead of being a occult enthusiast or reporter, but Nero rejects helping her. Nico then ask about Agnus and reveals that he is her biological father, shocking Nero. Nico notices Red Queen and quickly fixes it, making Nero feels indebted to her and agrees to help her.

At the basement of Fortuna Castle, Nero takes Nico to Agnus's old lab and questions her intentions for them, secretly planning to kill her if she planning anything malicious. Nico tells Nero that she's an weapon artist and brags about her grandmother, Nell Goldstein, and her works. When Nico brought up Ebony & Ivory, Nero realizes the connections between Nico and Dante. As Nico inquires if Dante is a good person and using her grandmother's weapons right, Nero becomes increasingly uncomfortable since Dante was the one that killed Agnus.

At Nero and Kyrie's home, Nico meets Kyrie for the time and will be staying with them until she finish gathering all of Agnus's research. While Nico and Nero argues over her smoking habit and foul-mouth, Nico observes how much the couple loves each other. Nico reveals that her father was the reason why Nico started to learn about demons and offers her services to Nero, holding no ill-wll towards him or Dante for Agnus's death. Nico then makes a phone call to her adoptive father, who is also her blood-related uncle, to send a package.

Return to Vie de Marli
On Vie de Marli, Dante speaks with Matier and struggles to remember her name, causing her to compare him to his father Sparda. Matier also scolds Dante for not visiting the island since the incident ten years ago, though Dante counters that he was stuck in the Demon World and it is not easy to travel between the Human World and Demon World. When asked how he escaped, Dante explains that a hole just appeared in front of him and he walked through it. "Holes" connecting the two worlds appears from time to time and small port cities like Vie de Marli and Fortuna have a higher chances having the holes pop up. When Matier brings how Lucia was against bringing Dante back to the island, Dante recounts how Lucia waited for Dante's return and shared a warm reunion before Dante had to leave shortly afterwards for a job. After bantering for a while, Matier tells Dante the reason she request his help is because Argosax's right-hand man, a fire demon named Balrog, has appeared on the island and had become too powerful for Lucia to handle.

On his way to find Balrog, Dante reunites with Lucia and they fight their way to Balrog. Upon meeting him, Dante notices that Balrog has a shard of Yamato in his fist and speculates that how he was able to enter the human world. Knowing how dangerous Yamato can be in the wrong hands, Dante begins fighting Balrog, who seems to be enjoying battling against Dante. Lucia quietly observes the battle and contemplates how weak she feels compared to Dante since she wants to repay him for his actions during their previous adventure. To counter Balrog's fire, Dante takes out Cerberus Devil Arm and playfully chats with Cerberus's soul as he fights. Dante manages to shatter the Yamato fragment in Balrog's arm, though this causes Cerberus to break as well. Upon realizing Dante is Sparda's son, Balrog submits to Dante and willingly turns into a Devil Arm until he becomes powerful enough for a rematch. As Dante and Balrog bicker with each other, Lucia muses how lonely she feels about Dante leaving so soon and recognize she has feelings for Dante. While Dante offers her his help again if more demons appear on the island, Lucia vaguely comments of Dante's obliviousness towards her feelings and bids him farewell.

Losing Devil Bringer
Nico has been living in Fortuna for about a year and is helping Nero refurbish the Devil May Cry van. Due to not having a lot of money, spending it on necessities items, and little work in Fortuna, Nero and Kyrie hopes the van will allow Nero to travel out town for jobs and earn more money to support themselves and the orphans they care for. At dinner time, Nico goes ahead and joins the table with Kyrie and the three orphans, but soon hears Nero warning Kyrie to stay back and his screams from the garage. The girls goes to check on Nero, only to see that his Devil Bringer arm has been ripped off and a cloaked figure with vacant eyes leaving the scene. Nico wonders what the mysterious figure wanted with Nero's arm and theorize Yamato was the reason since Nero once told her how powerful it was.